A pensioner farmer jailed after a land dispute with Clare County Council today entered his third day on hunger strike.
67-year-old Oliver Clune from Barefield was jailed on Monday for contempt of a court order to stop him interfering with Clare County Council's plans to build a new link road in Ennis. The Barefield farmer went on hunger strike as part of a dispute over the compulsory purchase of his land.

The dispute has been ongoing for 14 years and centres on a number of issues, including the level of compensation, which is believed to be in the region of €1.8m. Mr Clune says his hunger strike will continue until the row is resolved.

In a statement issued, Clare County Council outlined, "“As part of its development proposals for Ennis Town, the Council is proposing to provide a road link between the Gort Road and the Tulla Road in Ennis. The purpose of this road is twofold in that it would improve significantly traffic flows in the Northern area of the town and also provide safe and proper access to the Shannon Development Information Age Park located at the Gort Road, Ennis. In order to realise this proposal the Council took steps to implement Phase I of this proposal which is mainly designed to provide proper and safe access to the Information Age Park. This involved, along with the usual statutory and technical consideration, the acquisition of approx. 1.7 acres of land from the owner, Mr. Oliver Clune. Negotiations took place with Mr. Clune regarding purchase price and other matters. Unfortunately, agreement could not be reached on the purchase price. In addition to the disagreement on purchase price Mr. Clune also disagreed in principle with the provision of his land as detailed for the purpose of Phase I of the road network."

The statement continued, "As the Council considered the provision of this roadway to be of strategic importance to the development of the town and as providing proper and safe access to the Information Age Park Ennis (IAPE) it decided to utilise its Compulsory Purchase powers to acquire the necessary lands from Mr. Clune. This statutory procedure was commenced in and around June 2005 and all statutory provisions, including service of statutory notices on the landowner were complied with. The Compulsory Purchase Order was confirmed on 26th August 2005. This effectively entitled the Council to enter on the lands to carry out the necessary works with regard to provision of the road. At this point the Council was still seeking to agree a purchase price with Mr. Clune. Agreement could not be reached. The council requested that the matter be referred to arbitration and the arbitration process in relation to the purchase price is underway. In pursuance of the Councils statutory duty as Road Authority the Council decided to enter on the lands in December 2007 for the purpose of measurement and survey. Council employees were prevented from carrying out the work by the landowner. Subsequently, the Council endeavoured to enter the land again in January 2008 and March 2008 but was prevented from carrying out its statutory duties. As this was resulting in considerable time delay and unnecessary expenditure of public funds the Council had no option but to seek a Court Order preventing Mr. Clune, his servants or agents from interfering with the legitimate work of the Council. This Order was duly granted by the Circuit Court on 24th April 2008."

"The Council again sought to enter the lands in May 2008 but were again prevented from doing so by the Clune family in contravention of the Circuit Court Order. At this point the Council, and in accordance with due legal process had no option but to apply to the Circuit Court for an Order of Committal for Mr. Clune. The Circuit Court hearing took place on Monday 13th October 2008 at which the Council indicated that it would be satisfied to accept an undertaking from Mr. Clune that he, his servants or agents would not interfere with the legitimate work of the Council and that he would abide by the terms of the original Circuit Court Order which was granted in April 2008. Mr. Clune refused to give such an undertaking and consequently the Circuit Court judge made an Order for Mr. Clunes committal to prison. The Council has at all times endeavoured to reach agreement with Mr. Clune on the purchase price and has commenced the arbitration process to resolve this issue which will result in an independent assessment of the property value. The access issue is now within the control of the Court", the statement concluded.